HCO Overview

eToims®, the acronym for Non-Invasive Electrical Twitch Obtaining Intramuscular Stimulation is a world-wide patent-protected, clinician administered treatment system and technology that offers pain rehabilitation for existing patients who may have failed other treatments. It also encourages new patients to receive daily or weekly eToims® Technique treatments that improve their overall physical well-being and neuromusculoskeletal health.

The eToims® Technique non-invasively targets muscle fibers at damaged neuromuscular junctions deep within the body and closest to the bone and joint, encouraging muscles to twitch contract and immediately twitch relax. The eToims® Technique twitch effects stretch individual muscles from within, increase fresh blood inflow to afflicted areas, strengthen injured muscles, and concurrently allow outflow of pain producing chemicals. The eToims® Technique and ET127 muscle stimulator are the patented inventions of Jennifer Chu, M.D., Emeritus Associate Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman Medical School.

The eToims® Technique provides neuromuscular re-education to individual muscles by electrical stimulation at injured neuromuscular junctions (trigger points). The deep therapeutic twitch effects (typically painless) only occur at damaged or injured nerve-muscle meeting areas and allows the clinician to engage real-time with interactive neuromuscular feedback. The most recent and acute injuries will twitch with the most vigor, while older and more chronic problems may have low-force or feeble twitches initially. However, it is possible that in individuals with less muscle tightness, the twitch quality of a patient’s muscle may improve towards the end of a 30-60 minute treatment session.

Specialists in The eToims® Technique include physical therapists, physicians, osteopathic doctors, dentists, chiropractors and other health care professionals who are experienced in electrical stimulation therapies. Medical and physical therapy assistants can work under their supervision.

The eToims® Technique is distinguished from all other forms of electrical stimulation by its ability to penetrate to the deepest neuromuscular junctions. This treatment offers hope to patients who have often become disenfranchised by current treatment options, as well as increasing the ability of the general healthy population to maintain their physical wellbeing through regular, weekly or daily eToims® Technique treatments.

eToims® may be able to prevent surgery in recent injuries, though the degree of recovery is inversely proportional to the severity of nerve damage present, and ultimately depends on the ability of each clinician to locate to elicit large force twitches in damaged motor/trigger points.

Due to its ability to stimulate the deep trigger points, The eToims® Technique is able to produce twitch induced focal exercise of the deep muscles closest to the bone and joints to effectively stretch the muscles in spasm at problematic trigger points. This stretch exercise instantaneously releases the vice-like clamping effect that short and tight muscles due to spasm had on the intramuscular blood vessels and nerves. Acute injuries causing reversible partial nerve injuries such as neurapraxia can thus be immediately cured. Chronic repetitive or other injuries resulting in permanent nerve damage can be facilitated to heal due to improved circulation and perfusion leading to gradual nerve regeneration.

The eToims® Technique through its ability to exercise individual muscles to provide neuromuscular reeducation produces pain relief with improvement of range of motion leading to increase in strength, balance and coordination. The eToims® Technique is thus a noninvasive, nonpharmaceutical pain management program which can be used long-term and is safe and efficacious. Please see scientific publications